


Overtale

by Malice_and_Macarons



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Family, Fluff and Angst, Implied Relationships, Memory Loss, Monster/Human Relationships, Multi, Post-Soulless Pacifist Route, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sans-centric, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-03 12:01:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5289890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malice_and_Macarons/pseuds/Malice_and_Macarons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Welcome to the surface world. Where your memories and sins chase you, fearful humans are common and Sans is just trying his best to hold it all together. Along with a slew of new and old friends, secrets are difficult to keep and a reset is always on the horizon. Sans finds it difficult to look at someone who has killed him and even harder to face someone that he killed - but hey, what's new there.</p><p>Your happy ending - it's hell, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Happily Ever After

**Author's Note:**

> I have sinned once again. You know the drill, it's Undertale. That means we're gunna have some puns and Sans torture. I'll go easy on this fic - no leg breaking I promise. Maybe. Probably...we'll see. Think of it as tragedy and fluff.
> 
> Anyway if you have any requests, shipping, Oc's or ideas, throw them at me. I'm always keen for a new idea.

 The world had always been a rather divided place. 

Those that said one thing was good, others would violently oppose. Separation through the smallest of differences was common and if noticed, usually there was no solution to the prejudice – the focus of the scorn simply changed targets.

Some said that was simply human nature. To look at those that were in front of us and find the things that separated them from one another – to be naturally distrustful of those that were different to them. If it was truly within human nature or simply some sort of social coding it had become hard to say – almost impossible to define.

That was until the monsters came to the surface.

Each one seemed to vary from the others – with so many vastly different creatures packed together underground, humanity was really able to observe what acceptance looked like. There was no spite, no distrust outside of playful banter – when humans thought of monsters in the past they saw the difference they’d feared. 

When they looked at the monsters of the present – they saw what that fear did to them. 

At first there was panic – as there so often was when something so alien and unexpected fell into the laps of the masses. Through it all the monsters in question seemed quite content to let humanity take its time and once the initial explosion had subsided – diplomacy followed.

Once it was established that the monsters meant no harm and were eager to try their hand at life on the surface, the real divide began to form.

Not between monsters and humans so much as among humans themselves. Simply put there were those that were considered pro monster and those that furiously refused to accept their new neighbors. Funny how those people were quite vocal over the television and across the Internet but so few of them could be found in person.

It helped that the monster community had Frisk to speak out for them – well it was comforting but at the moment their chosen ambassador was still a child and so a lot of what they would be expected to do in the future, was currently taken care of but some of the older humans that were willing to speak up for the monsters.

Frisk was and would always be their spokes person, but for now Frisk still had school and a childhood to live and so a lot of the pressure was purposefully taken off of their shoulders. A small group of older humans had agreed to work as Frisk’s team of sorts and through them they were able to make a balance between maturity and adolescence.

However it seemed for the most part that the monsters were either oblivious or merely patient, and a majority of them went about their new lives with the kind of grace and excitement that only the most pure of children had been able to muster in the past.

Others were not quite so lucky to live in oblivion.

It was still early in the afternoon when Sans came home. Usually he’d be out for another few hours or so – not making his way back home until it was long past the kid’s bedtime, but today the skeleton brother shuffled back through the front door early.

Such an unusual occurrence couldn’t go by unnoticed. 

“Sans!” He almost winced at the sound of his brother’s shrill voice – part of him had been dearly hoping that Papyrus wouldn’t be around that afternoon. But realistically where else would he be?

Papyrus was home most of the time, keeping an eye on Frisk when the kid was staying with them rather than Toriel and Asgore which – while not uncommon – was just infrequent enough to stir San’s good mood. Having Frisk around made both brothers very happy – it gave Papyrus something to do with all his free time and Sans was just glad to have the kid over for a while. 

“You’re home quite early.” Papyrus noted, poking his head out from the kitchen to peer at his smaller brother, eye sockets narrowed questionably. “You’re not slacking off again are you?” 

“Yeah, bro. Ya got me.” Sans answered with a shrug, as though he’d been caught red handed.

He did not have the heart to tell Papyrus that he’d been laid off work.

It was only one job, one of four actually, but it was a blow all the same. It would not have concerned Sans so much, had he been fired for a mistake or simply because he was too expensive to keep. But rather than something so innocent, it had to be _that_ reason again. 

The business he’d been working at, a small grocery store, had changed hands and the first thing to go had been him. There wasn’t really a word for what was said to him, at least none that Sans had come to accept just yet – but racist seemed to cut it pretty close.

Of course Papyrus wouldn’t understand the lingering stares or looks of aversion some humans tossed at him and Sans was in no hurry to clue him in. Better to let his brother enjoy the marvels of the surface world – which in all fairness, were many – but Sans found little comfort in the human world thus far.

This still felt so…fragile.

Papyrus’s string of disapproving comments followed Sans all the way to the living room where he deposited his exhausted body onto one of their lounges. This new house was similar but not quite the same as their home back at Snowdin – Sans couldn’t be sure if he preferred the larger space or not.

His eyes had just gone dark when a slight shift of the lounge cushion caught San’s attention. Groggily sitting up Sans glanced down to watch the kid crawling their way up onto the lounge with him. 

“Oh, hey kid.” Frisk made a small sound of effort as they situated themselves up on the cushion next to Sans. “What’s up?”

Frisk wasn't a child of many words and rather than answering, they simply stared at Sans for a while before reaching out to paw at his face. A little surprised Sans reached up to catch the kid’s hands, only to realize what they were doing – Frisk was worried about how tired he looked. 

The all but permanent grin on San’s face gradually softened into something a bit more comforting – hoping to reassure Frisk. “Don’t worry Frisk, ya’ know nothing gets under my skin.” When Frisk did not immediately roll their eyes or laugh, Sans chuckled for them. “Ah, c’mon kid that’s funny.”

“Sans.” Their tone was so soft that Sans almost missed his name all together. “Did you get fired again?”

Deflating slightly, Sans glanced over the lounge towards the kitchen where the usual chaotic calamity of sounds was coming from, deciding Papyrus wasn’t going to hear them, Sans nodded a bit in admittance. 

“Don’t tell Papyrus, ay kid? It’d just rattle his bones.” This time Frisk’s face scrunched up in distaste, having heard that one numerous times before and their reaction got another chuckle out of Sans.

They’d be fine. Sure, human jobs didn’t pay nearly enough, and Sans had noticed that whenever it was a monster involved pay suddenly became scarcer and everything else more expensive. Who knew fear could be so easily combated with money? 

But they’d be fine. The surface world had wonders, and Sans got to watch as all his friend’s dreams gradually came true one at a time. This was fine, Sans had dealt with worse. 

Thinking of worse.

“Where’s the other one?” Sans asked Frisk curiously when he noticed a distinct lack of a fourth body present.

With their new home came a new set up, Frisk spent a majority of their time living with Toriel and Asgore – though there were frequently times when Asgore almost lost his position living there. Tori wasn’t going easy on the old man.

This of course meant that having four people in the house wasn’t as common as three and so Sans took notice when the fourth member was missing. Papyrus made a ruckus about not being able to see Frisk as much as he wanted, but Sans was more content with this new set up.

He loved the kid, no questions there – but sometimes there were those moments. Fleeting occurrences where his mind would jump back two years when he set eyes on the kid. Sometimes Sans just needed to not see Frisk for a while – to get his skull on straight.

Sans hadn't gotten so lucky with the other kid – having to house him while he went looking for his humans ties was Papyrus’s idea and Sans would never deny his brother something that made him happy. 

“Oh.” Frisk hummed quietly, kicking their feet aimlessly while they considered their answer. “Valet went out.”

Well there was a sentence Sans could have done without hearing. “Again?” Resisting the urge to groan, Sans instead let himself sink deeper into the lounge.

Since they got to the surface Valet had been a little…off.

In the past the kid had this sense of belonging and drive to him, like he knew what he was doing and why he wanted to do it. Now he seemed as lost as a child. Well considering how well established Frisk was for a kid, maybe that wasn’t saying much – but it was the best analogy Sans had.He knew where he’d find Valet anyway – so for now Sans let the kid have his crisis in peace.

“I’ll pick him up later.” Sans announced in a decidedly cheery tone as he bounced up and off of the lounge. The chaos from the kitchen had died down to a low level disaster in the making so Papyrus must have almost been done with his cooking. “Gotta find time to stomach Pap’s spaghetti.”

Sans saw the kid’s response on their face before it was even said.

“You don’t have a stomach.”

“Hey a guy can dream, right? You’re breaking my heart here Frisk.” He waited for Frisk to point out he didn't have one of _those_ either but instead just grinned wider when Frisk rolled their eyes at him. 

“Let’s get that table set.” Sans continued, offering a hand to Frisk. Despite all this time, Frisk still somehow had such a small hand, but as it slipped into San’s skeletal hand – he couldn't help but wonder if this time their hand would grow to someday be larger than his own.

It was both a sad and comforting thought. To have Frisk actually grow into a full adult – Sans would like to see that.

By the time the two of them had actually set the table, placing a fresh bottle of ketchup on San’s end of the table and a suspicious bucket next to Frisk’s chair, Papyrus had emerged from the ruins of their kitchen, carrying an unhealthy amount of what he called spaghetti with him.

With the mountain of noodles in front of Papyrus he almost missed the empty chair at the table. _Almost_.

“Where is the tall one?” He demanded. Papyrus’s usually loud voice did tend to smother more subtle emotions but Sans caught the disappointment. Valet hadn’t been home for dinner for a while now and it seemed Papyrus was beginning to think it was personal – that Valet no longer liked his cooking.

“He, uh…” Sans paused, thinking of a good little fib to tell in order to spare Pap’s feelings. He was beginning to run out of those and once again his irritation towards Valet spiked.

“It is quite alright brother!” Papyrus announced as he set down the hunk of dinner he’d prepared. “Being the great friend I am, I will save some for them!” Sans was actually a little relieved when Papyrus scooped a large chunk of the spaghetti up with a spoon and deposited it onto the plate by Valet’s vacant seat. It meant there'd be less for Frisk to determinedly shovel down.

Despite Papyrus’s cooking skills already dipping into the potentially hazardous, leaving the food out like that would turn it from horrendous to poisonous in a matter of hours.

“Better wrap that up, bro.” Papyrus shot him a puzzled look and Sans didn’t bother to stifle his grin. “Ya’know, make it like a present.”

As expected his brother’s face positively lit up at the prospect and his excitement gave Frisk the chance to begin scooping their own serving of spaghetti into the craftily concealed bucket under the table as he carried the plate back to the kitchen to wrap up. For the first year or so Frisk had forced themselves to eat Paps cooking but after one too many sick days, Sans came up with the bucket idea. He'd get rid of it later - perhaps using the gaps in reality that he used as shortcuts as their persona dumping ground was not a good idea.

While his brother was distracted and out of sight, Sans casually slipped Frisk a chocolate bar under the table. It wasn’t a healthy alternative and Tori would definitely chide him if she knew – but the kid had to eat something and the discarded spaghetti just wasn’t going to cut it. The joy on the kid’s face was almost was delighted as Pap’s had been. His two little dorks.

“Sans!” Papyrus’s head poked out from the kitchen, followed quickly by the rest of his ridged brother. Papyrus’s voice lowered a little bit when he was nervous and Sans watched as his brother’s eyes darted down to the floor before moving back up to the wrapped food. “Does this look acceptable?” 

He’d taken the present idea quite literally and there in his gloved hands Papyrus held the plastic glad plate, the top of the wrapped up food sporting what Sans guessed was meant to be a bow. It’d been made out of stretched and torn plastic but it had the intention of being a bow, and Pap's effort was obvious.

Papyrus waited anxiously for his brother’s verdict and really there was no way Sans could shoot his brother’s attempts down.

“Looks great bro.” Papyrus’s face once again began to warm into an excited smile, which Sans immediately snuffed out with what he followed up his praise with. “You did a _pasta_ -tively wonderful job.”

“Sans!”

“Hold on Paps, I got to write this down. Have you got a _penne_?” 

“That’s not even the type of pasta in the spaghetti!” Papyrus cried indignantly but Sans thought he could squeeze maybe one more in before his brother really blew his top.

It’s alright, I’m done. Don’t get me wrong, I'd like to continue in pasta-name-based wordplay, but I can't think of any more good puns.” Papyrus was halfway through a sigh of relief when, “Only _fusilli_ ones.”

It was a small miracle that Papyrus didn’t throw the pasta at him.

 

…  
…

 

After Papyrus had properly calmed down enough to eat, dinner had proceeded as normal. Normal consisting of Papyrus telling some tale of heroics only to occasionally be interrupted by Sans with a joke or pun. Frisk, was the most manageable person at the table and would smile and laugh where needed but otherwise stayed quiet. 

Even when questioned about their experience at school, Frisk remained surprisingly tight-lipped. Sure they usually didn’t like to speak and had taken up signing rather than using their words – but this was a little quiet even for their standards.

Frisk had assured them through a few haphazard signs that they were behaving at school, but they also would have liked to attend Toriel’s school a bit more instead. It had been decided that Frisk should interact with humanity as much as they did monsters – so they’d been put into a primarily human school and lived their domestic life with monsters.

If they were to be their ambassador, Frisk needed to have a working relationship with both sides – and needed to grow up just a little bit more. For the time being Toriel and Asgore had taken care of the politics – they were the king and queen at one point after all and nobody knew how to sooth spiked nerves better than Tori.

Humans might have been initially jumpy when they first encountered the larger monsters but Toriel’s gentle smile and kind nature usually did the trick. A skill that admittedly was not shared with the more excitable monsters like Papyrus.

It helped that they had a handful of humans that were there to help them at every turn. Sans himself avoided those humans though – simply because there was a pair in that group that set his bones on edge whenever he saw them. The sight of their familiar faces sending shivers up his spine as he fought back the barrage of overlapping time lines. 

It was difficult to see a stranger and already know more about them than they did in a way. To see someone smiling innocently after having seen them screaming their lungs out in grief in another time line – it was the sort of difficult day to day experience that only Sans could understand. But despite his aversion to a few of those humans, they did wonders for the political side of things and worked closely with the former king and queen to help where they could. All previous timelines aside – they were rather helpful. 

“Alright then kids, I’m off to Grillby’s.” San’s announcement hadn’t surprised Frisk, who was still quietly nibbling on their chocolate during safe intervals. Papyrus wasn’t so content however.

“Grillby’s at this hour? After dinner?” He demanded shrilly, eye sockets narrowing in something caught between concern and frustration.

Briefly Sans entertained the idea of letting a joke drop but Papyrus had only just survived the dinner and in all honesty his worried expression put Sans a little off his game. Papyrus adored the surface world and their new lives here, Sans did not want to see that joy dampened by anything, so he kept his response light. 

“Ya know me bro.” With a small shrug Sans reached for his wallet – something he’d realized was actually required in the human world. “Don’t you worry, I’ll be back in time for a bedtime story.”

Apparently that was enough to satisfy his brother and the familiar beaming smile returned.

“Make sure you are Sans!” Papyrus demanded, pointing at Sans almost accusingly. “I don’t people learning my name at Grillby’s because of you again! Everyone knew me back in the underground. If you cause a fuss I’ll--” 

“Have a _bone_ to pick with me?” Sans suggested only to watch Papyrus’s gaze narrow and his jaw clench, the smaller skeleton brother didn't bother to hide how his grin widened. But thankfully neither of them actually dwelled on the pun. 

“Besides, it was Snowdin, everyone already knew you.” Sans reasoned but Papyrus wasn’t hearing any of it. If his hearing was selective or Papyrus only heard what he wanted to Sans couldn't be sure.

With permission given to go Sans wandered leisurely over to the door, despite knowing he had to go out Sans wasn’t in any rush to get there. A moment of peace and quiet wouldn’t go amiss, so walking was preferable to his usual method of shortcuts. Which above ground were much harder to come by – the effort alone to find them put Sans off. 

A small tug at the back of his jacket brought Sans to an abrupt halt, hand still on the door. Frisk stood behind him, tugging a few more times to make sure Sans was paying attention as they signed to him. The real upside to sign language meant that a conversation could be had without fear of Papyrus overhearing them.

_“Are you going to bring Valet home? You said you would.”_

The kid felt worried.

Well perhaps ‘worried’ wasn’t the right word, responsible would have fit better. Since they’d finally made it out, after the final reset – Valet hadn’t been quite the same and Sans often forgot what that could mean to the kid. What Valet’s memory meant to them.

Frisk had reset a number of times just to protect the past and when they finally left it behind they’d left behind more than just bad memories. Frustratingly they brought a few of those bad memories back up with them.

Why Frisk thought it was a good idea to bring Flowey up to the surface in a flowerpot was still beyond all of Sans reasoning. After one or two near fatal ‘accidents’ Frisk stopped bringing Flowey with them when they were visiting Sans and Papyrus. Sans couldn’t help it if Flowey’s pot had a habit of falling over suddenly while next to a second story window – clumsy really.

Well Frisk had never quite believed all those falls were accidents and Sans had never tried that hard to defend himself from such suggestions. 

“Don’t worry, bucko.” San’s smile widened reassuringly as he ruffled Frisk’s hair. “We’ll be back before you know it, look after Paps while I’m gone will ya?”

Frisk smiled with an enthusiastic nod. Papyrus might have been the ‘adult’ but Frisk was definitely the one that’d be taking care of him while Sans was out. With one last pat on the head for good measure, Sans turned and left the house out into the chilly night air. Even if he’d had the skin to be agitated by the cold, his jacket was more than enough to keep the chill at bay. Having lived in Snowdin for most all of his life, Sans figured he could have been buried in snow and still not have given so much as a shiver.

That wasn’t to say Sans didn’t know the cold, he’d felt a different sort of cold from time to time. The type that stuck to his bones for hours at a time and lingered on his mind long after it faded. The sort of chill he got whenever Frisk would offer to help out in the kitchen or so much as look at their cutting knives.

No amount of clothing would be able to fend off that sort of bone chilling sensation.

“Damn.” Sans sighed into the night sky as he trudged down the street light lit road. “A pun and no one around to appreciate it.”

Appreciate was a stretch, Papyrus would have likened San’s puns to torture.

The streets were mostly void of life, in the middle of the week even the busier areas of the town tended to fall quiet. Too many families, working jobs and shuffling their kids off the school until they were momentarily released for the weekend. 

Sans distantly thought about what he’d usually be doing this time of night. He should have still been at work, doing what he could to make sure his smile never faltered no matter how dreary or frustrating the work was. While he wouldn’t call being fired a good turn of events, Sans wasn’t going to mourn the loss of that particular job. It did however leave a gap in his schedule.

Human jobs were more tiring than expected but he’d managed to juggle four or five at a time efficiently – now he was lacking one to fill in the remaining gaps.

As he wandered down the empty street, Sans quietly ran his mind over the places he had not yet worked. It was an increasingly small list that seemed to dwindle with every passing day.

“And the fairy tale continues.” Sans murmured to himself with a soft chuckle. It wasn’t so bad up here – Sans just wished it felt like it was going to stay this time.

He was waiting for the fairytale to restart, slamming him right back at the beginning once again.  
Sure it wasn’t perfect, but Sans still wanted it to be _real_.

This timeline was nothing short of perfect. They’d made it out and no one had died – at least…no one that could be saved anyway. Sans would like to keep his hands clean in at least one timeline, they’d been stained countless times with Frisk’s blood and a few times with another’s.

Sans had played the part of the judge in that final hall but in a sense he himself had escaped judgment for his own sins. Even now he stood here on the surface, free and without punishment for what he had done in other timelines and even though Sans had always reasoned that he did nothing outside of protect their happy ending – he could never fully convince himself.

Even in this timeline, where he hadn’t harmed anyone, he’d still managed to carry a few select sins. And every morning when he’d see those naïve, happy smiles on his friend’s faces – Sans would feel something icy and dreadful slowly crawling up his back.

And some small part of Sans, however minuscule and traitorous – was hoping that when they inevitably start again, he’d be able to wash himself clean of all his memories and sins. Just once he deserved to be as ignorant as they were, right?

A tiny, traitorous part of Sans was waiting for that reset with hope.

The rest of him knew he’d never be free of a set of red eyes and a knife – just as much as he’d never be free of an innocent smile and fall. Another shudder ran up San’s spine and he pointlessly pulled his jacket closer with a small exhale. 

“On with the happily ever after.” He muttered and continued towards Grillby’s for another round of unwitting punishment from the kid.

There _had_ to be a way out of this hell – Sans just couldn’t imagine it yet.  
But somewhere there had to be a way.

 

 


	2. Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to meet some kiddies.
> 
> This story needs a little warm up.

Grilby’s new place wasn’t far from their current residence and Sans had remembered being surprised when it was announced. While he was definitely happy to see his old hang out remade on the surface – Sans honestly hadn’t expected it.

For Grilby to actually own a place that once belonged to a human, it seemed too good to be true. But Grilby had gone about it in his usual quiet way, working hard consistently until the building he’d managed to acquire resembled his old place. It was larger and had a few more human touches so as to fit in better – but it was still undeniably Grilby’s.

When Sans spotted it around the corner his bones relaxed at the welcoming sight. Even now, a whole world away from his old hangout place – Grilby’s was still the best place for Sans to unwind. Would have been better if he was here just to relax like usual, rather than to fetch the kid.

Stepping inside Sans was met with a familiar rush of warm air that pressed pleasantly against his bones more than he actually felt it, and a swell of sweet scents followed shortly after the initial heat.

At this time of night the place had emptied somewhat, only a few lingering bodies remained. Grilby’s had the usual sorts scattered around – none of them about to cause trouble. Some were sitting with partners or groups enjoying a late night drink with friends, others were alone but no less relishing in the same small pleasures the joint had to offer. 

Then there was the final sort of person, and tonight there was only one of their kind. A single body laying slumped at the bar, drink carelessly sitting in their hand while the person idly drew invisible patterns on the wooden bar. It was the sort of cliché look that Sans had sometimes adopted after a particularly rough timeline had passed – this was the first time he’d seen it from the outside and he couldn’t say it was all that impressive.

Of all the sorts in Grilby’s, Sans had to be here for that one. Luck was scarcely ever on his side it seemed.

Regardless of his reluctance, Sans moved deeper into the bar. The lighting had dimmed down for the later hours of the evening and it held a familiar orange glow that Grilby seemed so fond of. It made sense given Grilby himself had a similar glow.

Other than the customers scattered around, Sans also noticed a few familiar staff members. A small purplish light hovered daintily around the bar, approaching customers with soft humming chimes and a ready smile. Most of the customers would smile back and wave the ghostly entity off – having already been served, but a few others would chat with the glowing orb in a friendly manner.

It didn’t seem to deter anyone when the light answered only in soft hums and lyrical chimes – they seemed to get the gist of whatever she was trying to say.

As Sans neared the middle of Grilby’s, the light took notice of him and seemed to tinkle with delight, her light growing considerably brighter as she bobbed on over in his direction.

“Heya, Nightlight.” Sans greeted her with an easy smile, using the familiar nickname that had been getting tossed around the bar recently. Hard to think it was a nickname that came from a human to begin with. 

The small light creature’s name was Eques, but Sans found himself becoming fond of her nickname over time. The fact a human gave it to her did set him a little on edge but Eques seemed to glow a lovely shade of purple when called by her affectionate title – so he stuck to it.

Since the underground opened up a lot of old friends had some out of the woodworks, monsters like Eques included. Sans had to admit he wasn’t quite sure where they’d been hiding until the barrier went down, but hey – more the merrier right?

“Got a good turn out tonight, huh?” Nightlight hummed a happy sort of sound, swaying up and down in the air in a motion Sans recognized as a affirmation. 

“Not having any trouble?” Sans asked curiously, eyes dropping back down to the slumped body at the bar. Eques followed that gaze and her cheerful smile faded into a worried expression, even her light dimmed a bit. 

Turning back towards Sans, Eques began to make shrill tinkling sounds, like little bells being shaken too roughly, accompanied by hurried gestures. So the kid had been worrying their little nightlight with his late night visits again? Sans couldn’t have that.

“Don’t sweat it, I got this one.” Sans assured Eques before heading towards the bar, well aware of Eques trailing behind him for a few seconds in concern. He didn’t want her to worry about anything, Eques was too sweet a soul to be wasting her time on unpleasant feelings like that.

The bar, as usual had Gribly behind it, idly washing out cups and serving drinks in that silent way of his. Sans had known people to be a little intimidated by his quiet nature but in some ways it was a blessing, the fire headed monster was one of the best listeners Sans had ever met after all.

Tonight however, he might have had his fill of that sort of sympathetic ear. Sans wondered if the kid had been particularly talkative that night. He didn’t so much as glance up from where he lay slumped among his scraps of paper, when Sans slid into the seat next to him – funnily enough it was his usual spot, like the kid had left it vacant for him.

Like he expected Sans to come and get him, or maybe he’d been hoping for Sans to show up.

“So.” Sans began slowly, casually. “How long have you been slumped here for buddy? It’s like you got no bones at all.”

Valet didn’t make a sound, not even a groan at the poorly placed joke. His stillness concerned Sans and after the silence stretched on long enough to become uncomfortable, Sans reached over to pat him once on the back. “Hey, you alive there kiddo?”

When San’s bony hand rest against Valet’s fleshy shoulder, the male shifted with a soft, nonsensical sound before falling silent again. 

Unbelievable, he’d fallen asleep at the bar. 

“That’s a new low kid.” The answering indecipherable grumble wasn’t making the scene any less depressing.

Sans was still looking in Valet’s direction when a familiar ketchup bottle got slid his way by Grilby. The soft roar of Grilby’s flame was a comforting sound in its familiarity and Sans noticed that when Gribly stood closer to their end of the bar – Valet’s tense body slumped forward, properly relaxed. The cold might not have bothered Sans or his brother, but to those with flesh it could be troublesome and it was nice that Grilby could provide respite from that.

Wordlessly Sans gave Grilby a thankful look, the fire headed man not vocally answering – he so rarely did. Sans was beginning to wonder if he should be given an award for having the most non-speaking friends in the world. Not that it troubled him, having known them for so long and in so many different forms – words could seem cheap at times.

“Poor baby has been here for hours now.” Then there were the types that talked a bit too much.

Reluctantly Sans turned his gaze towards the third employee at the joint during the nighttime hours. As always the sight of a human working in a primarily monster dominated business jarred Sans, it was probably the same feeling humans got when they saw him working at one of their places.

Remedy was a young human male with too feminine a face and flamboyant an attitude, but he was friendly and had done wonders for this place. After all he had owned the building that Grillby’s had gone into. Currently the human’s usually upbeat face was set in an expression of dismay – it looked a little too much like an expression Mettaton might muster up, so of course Sans didn’t quite appreciate it.

“He’s been scribbling all those odd little sticky notes again.” Remedy continued with an exasperated sigh, throwing his arms in the air like Valet was a troublesome child. “His gloomy atmosphere is going to infect the whole place!”

For his part, Grillby simply observed his employee’s antics in silence. It was a funny relationship; Remedy owned the premise but was employed as a server by Grillby. A boss becomes a worker but simultaneously remained an owner. Sans tried not to let the concept do his head in – Grillby seemed comfortable with it. It seemed like he was perfectly accepting of the young human and all the quirks he brought with him.

Well Sans had been his best customer for years and he’d brought more than enough quirks of his own to the table – Grillby was surprisingly chill for a fire monster.

“Sans honey,” Remedy looked his way pleadingly. “Ya got his bill right?”

Sans forgot to mention Remedy was all about getting paid. Well Sans wasn’t going to fault him for that.

“Yeah sure, throw it on my tab.” Grillby turned away like he intended to do just that but Remedy looked a less than convinced. Thankfully the male kept it to himself and trusted Grillby to trust Sans.

“You’ll get him home okay?” Remedy asked in a more subdued tone. “The poor baby doesn’t seem like he’s sad, and he is no trouble – but…”

But this wasn’t normal.

Sans knew that better than Remedy could even begin to comprehend. Valet had never seemed down on himself, ready with a smile for anyone that came by, but there was a constant distance to him. Like he was distracted by a far away thought at all times and then he would become enraptured in it.

Then the feverish note scribbling began and really, the raw intensity with which Valet tore into the paper would be enough to concern anyone.

Which was why he’d stopped doing it at the house and taken himself to Grillby’s instead – so as not to worry Papyrus. At least that was what Sans assumed prompted the move out of the house, it could make keeping an eye on the kid a bit difficult at times. Perhaps frightening the villagers with his antics was worse.

“Sans…?” The sound of his own name was muffled by Valet’s arm as the groggy young man finally began to stir. Staring bleary eyed up at Sans like a kid might look up at an unexpected authority figure – it was not an unpleasant surprise exactly, but he didn’t look thrilled either.

“Hey there kiddo – you look bone tired.” The resulting groan and disbelieving smile was all the satisfaction San’s needed.

“That’s horrible.” Valet mumbled tiredly as he jerkily began to drag his body upright off of the bar. A few dangerous sways of his stool almost convinced Sans the kid was about to take a tumble, but he managed to save himself at the last moment.

Still half asleep, Valet began to rub his face, trying to force himself back to the waking world. 

“What’re you doing here?” He asked slowly, words thick with fatigue but forced out because Valet simply had to know. “You’re meant to be working for the night. You’re not meant to be here.”

“You avoiding me now, bucko?” Funny coming from him. Sans didn't like having to be in the same room as Valet for any extended amount of time – and being alone with the kid was a nightmare within itself.

“No.” Valet answered in a slur, he was obviously too far-gone for the night and would not be rejoining them in the world of the living enough to be coherent until he got some proper sleep. “Why aren’t you at work?”

“Nah, that job boned.” Remedy who was still just within pun distance, let out a long suffering groan. No appreciation for good jokes. But frustration aside, it seemed the human had a thing or two that he wanted to say about San’s current predicament.

“Does that mean you’re unemployed Sans?” Technically no, he still had those other jobs but Sans counted being one down from his intended list as unemployed and so he gave a noncommittal shrug in response.

Which apparently was more than enough for Remedy because the male immediately spouted something about staying right there before vanishing out the back for something. Sans dearly hoped he didn’t think that a job here would be a good idea – working at Grilbys wasn’t something Sans wanted to do. This was his place to relax and withdraw from the rest of the world for a few hours at a time. Working at his sanctuary might just break the fragile safe haven he’d found.

Although recently it had been getting cluttered up by unpleasant sights. Sans thought dryly as he observed Valet’s sleepy expression. 

The boy had one of his many multi-coloured sticky notes stuck haphazardly in his hair. The writing was nearing illegible but Sans had seen that word plenty of times before and no matter how much Valet’s trembling hands butchered the language – Sans would always recognize it.

‘Vessel’ 

A familiar stone dropped in San’s nonexistent stomach, weighing him down and suffocating him from the inside. As always Sans simply forced his gaze away from the note and focused on the bar in front of him. The small drop of red from his ketchup bottle, serving as his only distraction from the pounding in his head.

Sans could practically feel accusing fingers grasping at his mind, looking for loose threads to begin pulling him apart at the seams. Once again Sans reminded himself that if Frisk could leave behind the atrocities they’d committed in the other timelines – Sans should be able to do the same.

To forget how easily broken a human body was. Distant memories ran through his head, hazy and blurring together as the timelines in his mind overlapped and merged together grotesquely – but through them all he could always hear it. A sickening crack and far away thud as a human’s skull bounced off cement. The way blood would leak from their still bodies, the red impossibly deeper than the imitation of blood that his ketchup created when slashed.

All this echoed inside the caverns of his mind whenever he allowed his mind to wander. Whenever he looked too closely at Frisk’s idly, empty expression or even Valet’s trusting smile. The unpleasant feeling slithering over his bones was akin to the phrase, having his skin crawl.

How did that old saying go again? He could feel his sins crawling on his back?  
Nah, that sounded dumb. He had to be getting the phrase wrong.

“Sans?” The kid’s quiet tone grated on San’s nerves but he answered with a beaming grin and a guiltless hum of acknowledgment.

Valet was looking at him directly now, his eyes were the same as always, far away and void of anger. When Valet saw San’s grin, he smiled in return. It was a dopy expression that matched his distant gaze – the kid had no idea about anything. Empty headed child.

“Are you happy?” If the question had come from anyone else, Sans might have been surprised or brushed it off. But coming from Valet it felt uncomfortable, like a trap that the kid wasn’t smart enough to plan.

“What’re you saying? ‘course I am.” The answer came easily, fluid and honest to his own ears, but no less a white lie. “Why you asking? Are you not?”

Valet was not so quick to lie or reassure Sans that he was fine. Instead the kid looked at the cup he’d probably been unintentionally clutching for hours now. Knowing him it’d be something like hot chocolate or some impossibly sweetened drink.

“Oh.” That was not an answer. “I think so.” That was not much better.

Sans felt a bead of sweat form on his skull. This kid’s nature was jarring at the best of times but when comparing it to the Valet he’d encountered back in the underground – it was down right eerie.

Thinking back on it, Sans hadn’t expected himself to miss the slightly violent edge to the kid or that rude behavior of his. Sans was sure that most of Valet’s complacency at the moment was due to exhaustion but even when he was fully functional – there was still an unsettling subdued feeling to Valet now days.

Valet’s brows furrowed together slowly as if he was trying very hard to focus on something, and that something remained just out of reach. 

“Just…can’t remember anything.” He slowly admitted. “I’m happy up here, but it’s…frustrating.”

Valet had always, and probably would always identify himself as a human. But looking at the kid’s form now, Sans figured he could pass for a monster just as easily. He looked a lot like Frisk and Remedy, except there were just a few things that weren’t quiet right for a human.

The indentations in his face being the most noticeable – like someone had carved shapes across his flesh and they never healed. Alphys had been the one to come up with an excuse for these when Valet was around humans – he could be a cosplayer!

Whatever that was…

“Sans!” He never thought that Remedy’s voice would be a sound that carried with it relief, but Sans did not want to talk about memory with the kid. Now or ever.

Remedy appeared back behind the bar, mobile phone slapped to his ear and a grin plastered on his pierced lips. Sans was slowly beginning to wish he’d told Remedy he did not need a job.

“Yeah, thanks Nat! You won’t regret this, I promise.” Remedy began to finish up the other end of the conversation. “I mean….well sure that one time wasn’t-- This time will be better I swear. Love you!” With that Remedy ended the call and turned towards Sans and Valet with an excited smile.

“Good news darlings, Nat says you can work at her place. Or at least she’s willing to give you a test run.” Nat didn’t register as anyone in San’s memory files – which was admittedly a relief. Sans didn’t want to run into any familiar strangers in this timeline. Despite his obvious lack of experience with the person in question Remedy went on regardless. 

“She runs the café a few blocks over, it’s a great little place and recently they lost someone so they’ve been looking for a replacement – and you my dear fit the bill.”

A café huh? Sans hadn’t worked in one yet and seeing as he might as well start a record for the most different work places, adding one more to it might not be a bad idea. While Sans didn’t like going to anything set up by the over enthusiastic barman – it was a job offer when he needed it so Sans couldn’t just refuse.

He needed those jobs. Needed the money, needed the distraction.

“Nat?” Valet repeated, a frown forming on his face as if he was trying to put a face to the name. “As in…Nathalie’s café?”

“That’s the one sugar.” Remedy lent himself down on the bar so that he was closer to Valet, who would have once recoiled from being that close to anyone – but now simply stared back at Remedy curiously.

Come on kid… Sans thought furiously as he noted the lack of retaliation. Where are you?

“I like that café.” Valet decided, glancing over to Sans with his face set in a firm expression. “It is a good place. Work there.” Sans felt less inclined to take the offer now that both the humans were pressing it.

“I’ll mosey on over and have a look.” Sans agreed with a casual shrug, not letting on that he’d been annoyed by their insistence. 

“But tomorrow.” He added when noting how Valet’s face began to light up. “Tonight, we head home.” Sans had a comment about Valet making Papyrus worry on the tip of his tongue but figured the overtired humanoid wouldn’t really register the severity of such a remark.

Thankfully Valet didn’t make a fuss and got up to follow after Sans when he made to leave. He had to collect all the scraps of paper he’d littered around before chasing after the smaller skeleton, but Sans didn’t wait up for him. Only pausing to say goodnight to Remedy – who he fondly called Rem – and Eques. The latter chimed in delight at seeing Valet up and apparently heading to bed and the kid walked out of Grilby’s door with a smile on his face.

That smile died when the cold hit him but Valet didn’t complain and Sans didn’t offer any support or indication he’d noticed the humanoids discomfort. He’d run off the have another frantic attempt at memory searching and worried his housemates – he could deal with the cold as punishment.

He didn’t whine, instead Valet grit his teeth and silently bore with it. Sans bit back a chuckle when he noticed the horrible expression plastered on the kid’s face. The cold had to be a better wake up call than any bucket of water – an icy slap in the face.

The walk back was a silent one and Sans couldn’t help but notice his own hurry to get home. Once Valet was back under their roof he could distance himself from the humanoid, pretend he was busy or oblivious to how he dodged being alone with Valet for any amount of time.

Maybe it was unfair, he certainly didn't avoid Frisk like this – rather he relished their company. But Sans just wasn’t up to this, not yet and maybe he never would be fully ‘up to it’.

As they reached home, Sans quietly pushed the door open to take check on what Papyrus and Frisk were doing. The television was on but from what he could tell, both the watchers had fallen asleep on the lounge in front of it. With the coast clear Sans opened the door as silently as possible and pressed a finger to his nonexistent lips to signal for silence.

Valet nodded hastily, keener to get out of the cold than Sans was and he rushed in the second Sans left a wide enough gap for him. 

Sans was left to lock up after them and took his time doing so in order to let Valet put distance between them without even realizing he was doing it. With the door locked securely for the night, Sans crept into the living room to check on the two sleeping boneheads.

Frisk lay nestled against Papyrus’s side, curled into a tight ball while his brother seemed to have let his body sprawl in every possible direction. 

It was a surge of brotherly affection that prompted Sans to seek out a blanket for the two and neither stirred when he gently draped it over them. Satisfied with his work, Sans allowed a small genuine smile to tone down his usual grin.

This scene, his brother and Frisk asleep in front of a quietly humming television, this was what he wanted. No more resets, no more meeting over and over again – just this senseless mundane joy.

This could be enough.

Sans planned to head to his room after that, figuring that he could let the two stay like that a while longer before he needed to drag their bodies to bed. 

However as he passed by the kitchen, Sans caught sight of Valet standing there stock still and staring down at the spaghetti that Papyrus had wrapped up for him earlier.

Sans didn’t make his presence known, not wanting to be dragged into a conversation with Valet, and the kid didn’t utter a single word as he touched the shredded plastic that made the ‘bow’ on his present. With his back to San’s it was impossible to make out an expression, but he would have bet on a smile.

After a few more seconds of simply staring and caressing the bow, Valet turned away from the gift and heading towards the living room with determined strides. Sinking deeper into the shadows of the house, Sans watched Valet as he stood by Frisk and Papyrus.

Again there was a beat of silence as the humanoid simply watched them and then with a soft contented sigh, Valet let his body fall down on the floor next to the lounge. He sat between the two sleeping figures and dragged the blanket over his shoulder while resting his head back against the cushions of the lounge. 

It might have been a little uncomfortable but he looked happy to deal with that discomfort if he could simply sit with the two for a while. 

“Sorry.” Sans just caught the whispered apology before Valet’s eyes slid shut and he began to fall into a comfortable slumber.

For all the frustrations and silent grievances Sans had on his mind, he thought that perhaps he could release them all for a second or two of indulgent bliss. To be as happy as they were. Forget the past, leave it behind and move ahead without a second thought – that was what he wanted to do from here on in.

Yeah. This was enough.


	3. Tooth Tale

Evidently the aches and discomforts of sleeping on a lounge all night was a pain shared between all creatures with bones – which meant that when all three began to stir the next morning, each let out some sort of complaint.

Frisk’s face twisted in discomfort as they began to force their stiff limbs out in every direction possible, just to get some feeling back into them. Papyrus dealt with his aching bones a little better, having less trouble stretching and getting himself back in order – one of the bonuses of not having to deal with muscles and skin. Lastly there was Valet, still collapsed against the front of the lounge, having curled against Papyrus’s leg at some point in the night. His reaction to waking up was a little more vocal than the other two.

He moaned in complaint, arching his spine and pressing his fingers into the small of his back like he was struggling to properly crack it. It was at the point that Papyrus offered to help Valet correctly crack his back that the male stopped trying, insisting he’d be just fine without the help. Probably one of his smarter decisions.

Only after having made the offer did Papyrus really seem to notice that Valet was _there_.

“Tall human!” His unrelenting glee caused Valet to wince, he’d only just woken up and Papyrus was already back at full volume. “You’re home at last. I, the great Papyrus was not worried of course, not at all! But maybe next time, tall Human, you should tell the great Papyrus when you’re going out…?” 

Guilt was like an icy punch in the gut and Valet was suddenly wide-awake. Papyrus was still staring at him with those apprehensive sockets of his – how a skeleton was able to so perfectly emulate the human ‘puppy dog’ expression was beyond Valet’s understanding.

Regardless, the young man reached up towards Papyrus’s face, gently laying both hands on the skeleton’s cheekbones and offered up a small smile with a nod. This familiar practice reassured Papyrus, who knew a promise from Valet when he saw one. 

Thoughts of making another apology came to mind, as did the desire to tell Papyrus that he found the present the skeleton had left him – but words could be hard to come by. Valet often found himself struggling to properly put his thoughts and desires into words, so much so that even Frisk had to prompt him on occasions.

So why was it he felt like he’d spoken an awful lot last night?

His tongue felt heavier than usual in his mouth and Valet could vaguely recall the hazy mess of memories that was last night. He’d gone out to Grillby’s again, looking for a place to work on his notes undisturbed by Sans. The skeleton had the most bizarre habit of showing up whenever Valet was beginning to get some sense of what he wanted to write down. 

Of course Valet was always more than happy to greet his friend and go anywhere the shorter male suggested, but after this trend continued without fail for weeks – Valet began to try taking his notes elsewhere to avoid Sans. Doing them during the skeleton’s work hours, or in places he thought were private.

Valet didn’t hate seeing Sans but…these interruptions seemed a little bit too perfectly timed. Perhaps he was being unreasonable. It was such a human emotion to be feeling that Valet didn’t even feel uneasy knowing he may very well be paranoid. Even the smallest human emotions felt like some sort of triumph to him, feeling anything, even bitter and resentful sensations was better than being numb.

However to feel suspicious towards Sans? That seemed outrageous even to him. Sans was his friend and never had the skeleton wronged him beyond the occasional practical joke, and even then they were in good nature. With that in mind Valet had shoved aside all feelings of uncertainty towards his housemate.

After all – when had Sans ever let him down?  
Sans would never lie.

“Human!” Having been satisfied with Valet’s silent promise not to worry him again, Papyrus turned his attention on the still half asleep Frisk. “Human your education demands your attention!” Valet almost pitied Frisk, even for such a well behaved child, school must not have had that much appeal.

A glance at the clock told Valet they were running late. Unusual considering Sans normally had them all up and going before late was even a possibility. Concerned about the distinct lack of the other skeleton brother, Valet decided to check on him once Frisk was properly geared up for school.

If they were late Toriel would give them all a chiding. Unwilling to disappoint the kindly woman, Valet eased himself up onto stiff legs and began the morning procedure.

So while Papyrus began to put Frisk through the usual morning drill, shouting encouragement and orders as they sleepily stumbled into the bathroom to brush their teeth, Valet quietly made use of himself in the kitchen. A simple lunch was in order for Frisk’s day at school and not for the first time Valet found himself wondering if he could ask Toriel for some tips. She always made such lovely lunches for Frisk, that Valet’s attempts paled in comparison. To make up for his short comings, Valet added a little bit of money to the lunch bag – hoping Frisk could buy something they liked if Valet’s lunches were not good enough. 

“Human, you hardly brushed them at all!” Papyrus’s urgent voice carried down from the bathroom, giving Valet reason to pause for a moment. “How do you expect to make a good impression if you don’t clean your teeth? Teeth are _very_ important. As you can see I have the most impressive teeth – you tiny human, must strive to achieve my brilliance!”

A noncommittal sound followed Papyrus’s lecture but Valet could distantly make out the sound of the water running again as Frisk once again brushed their teeth – this time to Papyrus’s standards.

No doubt Papyrus had been told similar things when he was a child, but by who Valet wasn’t sure. Somehow he couldn’t imagine San’s giving the same impassioned speech about teeth. 

A sudden crashing sound came from upstairs, surprising Valet who set down the knife he was holding to listen and try to distinguish what had broken. Following quickly after the initial crashing sound was Papyrus’s less than reassuring voice screaming out in terror. 

“Human!” The horror in Papyrus’s voice caught Valet off guard, sending a violent shudder down his spine. “Oh no! Tiny human y-you’re falling apart. S-Sans! Valet, I need assistance!”

Abandoning Frisk’s half finished lunch bag, Valet dashed up the stairs and practically threw the door off its hinges in his haste to reach the two. His panic quickly dried up however when he saw the cause of all the fuss.

There was Frisk, standing on the small stepping stool that they’d gotten them so they could reach the mirror and sink, with a delicate white tooth laid in the flat of their palm. The small splash of blood on their skin did give Valet a momentary fit of panic but when he realized it was just some blood from losing a baby tooth, his fear turned to a soft feeling – something endearing. 

Papyrus wasn’t so pacified.

“Tiny human this is why I told you to brush your teeth. Oh, I the great Papyrus could have prevented this! I have failed you tiny human, but worry not – I, your best friend, will love you even without your teeth!” Papyrus’s eyes were beginning to leak and despite feeling a touch bad for the misunderstanding, Valet couldn’t help but wear a faint smile.

It was then that Sans appeared on the scene, looking as frazzled as Valet first had – he unlike Valet, wasn’t nullified when he saw the tooth and small splash of blood.

Instead it seemed to get worse, San’s whole body locked up violently and Valet could only observe him curiously as the skeleton seemed to somehow become paler. Was such a thing possible? Rapidly San’s pin dot eyes flicked between his brother, Frisk and the bloody sink – making a few rounds as if he was looking for something that wasn't there.

“Brother.” Papyrus moaned hopelessly, picking Frisk up by their underarms like they weighed nothing. “The human is losing their teeth!”

Apparently something about that statement gave Sans reason to relax, whatever he’d been expecting, this wasn’t it. Despite this, Sans still looked uncomfortable and a little worried. “Their teeth?” His white gaze dropped to the tooth that Frisk held out towards him like a prize and San’s began to sweat. “S-Seriously kiddo?”

“Maybe I can put them back in?” Papyrus proposed enthusiastically, setting Frisk back onto the stool and reaching for the tooth. Frisk quickly jerked their hand back, clutching the fallen tooth close to their chest – unwilling to give it up to Papyrus. 

“H-Human! We have to get you back together, w-what if you begin falling apart?” Papyrus looked like he was fighting back tears. “The great Papyrus will not let his friend fall into little itty bitty Frisk fragments!” 

“Maybe we can glue them in?” Sans suggested, stepping a little closer to the scene.

“Good idea Sans!”

It was most certainly not a good idea. Still a little surprised that the two brothers evidently thought Frisk losing teeth was a serious problem, Valet decided it was about time he step in and do something.

Sliding into the bathroom, Valet silently began to fill up the glass cup they kept on the side of the sink for rinsing, keeping an ear out for the conversation as he did. The brothers had moved onto suggesting things as absurd as duck tape when Valet finally stepped back form the sink and sank down to one knee in front of Frisk.

At first Frisk was resistant, looking between Valet and the cup uncertainly. Valet reassured the child with a faint smile and a little bit of signing.

Frisk could use their words better than he could and had no difficulty hearing – but they’d always been faster and most confident with their hands. Valet hadn’t known a single sign when he met Frisk back in the underground, freezing and lost, but they’d been patient with him. Slowly but surely showing him all that they could. 

Valet was a slow, clumsy learner. But he was attentive and tried his hardest to please his child sized teacher, it took longer than it should have but finally Valet had a handle of the nonverbal language. Sometimes he still needed a few minutes to think of the correct signs and mistakes were common, but he knew enough to speak with Frisk.

He had been the last of the entire group to master the basic language skills required to sign – this did not deter his happiness when he finally crossed the finishing line. Last was still finished after all.

“ _It’s got to be clean right? She likes clean teeth best.”_ He signed simply and Frisk finally seemed to catch on, face lighting up in utter delight as they presented the tooth to Valet much like they had to Sans earlier.

As he took the tiny tooth from their open hands and let it drop into the cup of water with a small splash, Valet distantly wondered if he’d done this to his teeth in childhood. It seemed like the natural course of action to take and it definitely felt like something he would have needed to learn first hand. 

But as always, Valet could never be sure.

“What are you doing?” Sans asked, peering over at the two humans who seemed to be sharing some sort of secret.

Standing straight again with the tooth safely in the cup and Frisk bouncing excitedly by his side, Valet finally turned towards the two still slightly distressed brothers and laughed. It was a soft, warm sort of laugh and the sound helped to loosen up his tongue for the explanation to come. 

“Human children lose teeth.” He explained simply. “They’re baby teeth, and when the kids lose them they’re replaced with adult teeth. Frisk is losing their’s at the moment. It’s nothing to worry about I promise, it’s normal for human children.”

“So what you’re saying….” Papyrus began slowly, eyes narrowed inquisitively. “Is that they’ll grow more teeth?”

“Yes, in a sense.” Valet responded, still holding onto an amused smile.

“Humans grow new teeth. Wowie, that’s so creepy!” Even though he said creepy, Papyrus looked positively aglow with this new knowledge.

Sans seemed to have decided he either didn’t have enough puns lined up for this occasion or the whole thing with humans was too weird and left the three to their morning routine. At least seeing him reassured Valet that the skeleton was home and safe. Papyrus on the other hand wasn’t content with just that small amount of information and was keen to hear more.

It only got funnier when Valet tried to explain that once the teeth were out, a fairy would come to collect them when the child slept and leave money and presents behind.

Besides excitement, that also lead to Papyrus complaining that he’d never been given a gift by a fairy because he’d never lost any teeth.

“So that means you lost your baby teeth already Valet?” Papyrus continued to pester him for details even as they got Frisk into a clean uniform – having gotten blood on the one they’d been wearing. “Did you see her? What did she bring you?”

Valet had been helping Frisk into their school shirt when Papyrus asked, the question jarring him somewhat because he did not have an answer. In all honesty until he’d seen Frisk holding the tooth – Valet had completely forgotten about children losing teeth and the tooth fairy.

His memory came slowly, filling in the gaps naturally with every passing day but even though he began to compile general knowledge about humans the more time passed – he could not yet dreg up any memories about himself directly. That area was still very much a dark area, and so he had no answer for Papyrus.

Oh, but he looked so excited to hear about it, so keen to know what wonders were left in human childhood – Valet decided it was best to give him something.

“It’s a secret.” He told Papyrus while Frisk popped their arms through the shirt’s holes, trying to get their hair back into place after the shirt ruffled it. “Everyone knows that the tooth fairy brings special presents to good children – secret gifts.” 

Papyrus whined, feeling left out of their human traditions. Valet found this to be rather saddening, and so he came up with one more lie to tell Papyrus. Little white lies couldn’t hurt right? 

“But you know…” Valet added slowly as he gathered up Frisk’s school bags, sliding the lunch he’d made inside. “I hear the tooth fairy makes exceptions for special monsters.”

“She does?” How one man could sound so positively childish and wonderful was still a mystery to Valet. However, unlike the mystery of his own human life, Valet felt this one had no solutions. At least none that he would have cared to find – Paps was fine as he was.

“Promise not to tell? It’s a secret.” Valet turned to look at Papyrus, willing his expression into a sort of smile. This time he was unable to manage to force his muscles to move in such a way – sometimes his face wouldn’t cooperate and Valet was left with a flat expression.

Occasionally when Valet would interact with other humans – rare as that was – they’d be put off by his expression or lack there of. He truly tried to smile, tried to make the emotions show on his face when they said something, but it was so difficult. Like his face had lost the will to smile despite his efforts – of course this also meant that frowning was hard to do so at least he did not look upset all the time – just blank. Unlike the humans Valet spoke to, this problem didn’t seem to deter Papyrus in the slightest as he nodded in earnest excitement. 

“All you have to do is leave her something. Something like a tooth.” Papyrus’s eyes brows furrowed as he tried to think of something that would equate to the same value as a human tooth.

“Oh!” Just like that he had it, fingers snapping as the thought dawned on him. “My kiddie bones?” 

“Huh?”

Blatant confusion ignored, Papyrus rushed upstairs to his room, resulting in a series of crashes and bangs as he went through his things. By the time the excited skeleton appeared back downstairs, box of bones in his arms and a big smile stretched over his face, Valet already had Frisk’s backpack on them and was quietly adjusting their collar.

“I knew I was right to keep these!” Papyrus announced, dumping the box onto the bench with a proud smile. “These were the bones I use to practice with when I was a child myself! Nyeh heh heh! Do you think…she’ll like these? I know they’re not teeth but…” 

Despite his confident crowing, Papyrus looked anxious when considering the idea that the tooth fairy might not like his offering. 

“They were yours as a child and then you grew into an adult and got new ones – just like Frisk’s teeth.” Valet stepped forward, touching Papyrus’s hand before offering to take the box of significantly smaller bones. “She’ll love them.”

Papyrus’s face lit up at the reassurance and he relinquished the dusty box into Valet’s hands. He didn't bother questioning where the bones came from, if they used to be Papyrus’s when he was a kid – which would be very different from how human bones worked – or if they were just tools used to practice magic?

If so then whose bones were they? Thinking it best not to pry, Valet didn’t utter a single word about it, instead he listened to Papyrus’s happy ramblings.

“Of course she will! They are an offering from the great Papyrus!” His smile restored along with an ego boost he probably didn’t need to voice so loudly, Papyrus joined Frisk over by the door. 

“We’ll be off now tall human.” Papyrus waved energetically to Valet as he took Frisk’s hand in his mitten-clad hand. “Be sure to get that lazy brother of mine off his hind today.”

He said lazy but Sans seemed like the busiest person around now days. Papyrus certainly noticed but to break routine and call his brother hardworking would make them all very uncomfortable – and so Sans remained titled as ‘lazybones.’ Smiling with an affirmative nod, Valet made a note to himself to let Sans relax a little bit if he could. 

The shorter skeleton brother worked too much, he was hardly around and yet somehow his appearances were abrupt and always so perfectly timed. Even if he was home, he’d probably just stay in his room locked away from Valet for the day. Even before they’d moved into this house, San’s room had always been locked. 

Frisk had been in there at least once, Papyrus had more leniency than anyone else and would make the occasional trip inside. Valet had never so much as seen the other side of the door. Not that he minded, Valet just…wondered.

“ _Be safe.”_ Valet signed to the two of them, getting a bright smile and nod from Frisk in return before they set off, hand in hand, to the school. Papyrus insisted on escorting Frisk to school everyday that they were in their care, which sat well with pretty much everyone.

Frisk was a tough kid, the toughest Valet could ever imagine, but it gave them all peace of mind to know they weren’t walking to school alone. Humans could be surprisingly cruel to their own children – so naturally the crew became a little more protective.

With the two out of the house, Valet became aware of just how quiet it was. It was possible Sans had left for the day as well, which meant Valet had time to write down the things he’d remembered about the tooth fairy – it was all trivial but every little memory added up, he was sure.

The notes he’d made last night were no where to be found and Valet cursed his own forgetful, clumsy nature – it seemed like his notes always got lost and no matter how he searched they could never be recovered. Regardless of the unfortunate loss of last nights efforts, Valet decided he could at least try to put down what he knew about the human tooth fairy game was try to draw personal memories from that.

Valet had barely even sat down before he was proven wrong – Sans hadn’t left at all. 

The small table in the living room had become his go to spot to do these notes. Sometimes Valet would use his room but being in the communal area of the house made him feel more at ease and he rarely wanted to be separated from his friends, so this table suited him better. 

As he began to ease down into his seat and pull out a pen and scrap of paper, a heavy hand abruptly fell down onto his shoulder getting a genuine jump of fright out of him.

“Hey there kiddo.” Valet wished he was surprised to hear San’s casual drone behind him, but really he wasn’t in the slightest surprised. He’d almost expected it.

“I...thought you’d gone to work.” Valet said slowly, glancing back to peer at the skeletons stretching grin. It seemed to widen at his words, as if Sans could hear Valet’s disappointment.

Again Valet had to remind himself he was never disappointed to see Sans, really he was thrilled to see his friend but…he really wanted to work on these memories. Pushing aside such selfish desires, Valet instead focused on Sans and the continued weight of the hand against his shoulder.

“Actually I could use a hand with that bucko.” Valet could almost feel a joke coming, like something gross crawling up his spine. At first he usually didn’t get a joke, it left long silences between himself and Sans sometimes until finally the skeleton tried to explain the joke. Now Valet still struggled to pick up on the puns and jokes but there was always an unsettling, embarrassing feeling whenever Sans would drop one – that became his only way of knowing if Sans was doing it again or not.

Thankfully Sans didn’t immediately follow up with a pun and Valet was spared another half hour trying to figure out what was humorous about the strange play on words, and why they infuriated Papyrus so much. 

“You know a woman by the name Nat? Hear she runs a café ‘round here.” Gradually Valet got a sense for what happened the night before. He’d been pretty out of it but Valet was positive he could remember Rem talking about Sans getting a job at Nathalie’s café.

“Oh.” Valet stood immediately, realizing what it was Sans needed. Of course he’d never been to Nat’s place before, he just needed some direction. “Of course. She’ll be angry if you’re late.” 

“Bit late on that front kid, should’a been there five minutes ago.” Valet didn’t think as he abruptly surged forward to latch onto San’s arm and begin dragging him full force out of the house. Sans only offered up a few words of surprise and a casual comment that he’d get there faster without Valet clinging onto him but the kid wasn’t hearing him.

Nat ran a strict ship and if Sans got fired before he even began it was not going to be pretty. So Valet ignored all else and dragged an unresisting Sans as fast as he could through the streets. 

For another day all his thoughts on the past and where he could find it were forgotten. Domestic trivial problems took priority over his own soul searching. This new life, these new people – all of it took priority over his own memories.

But despite that, Valet still felt a little uneasy. Like there was something hanging over his head, watching him carefully. If he’d been a little more observant he would have realized that the thing watching him was currently trailing after him, wearing a self made grin. 

San’s single blue eye had never quite shifted off of Valet, ever vigilant and unlike Valet’s oblivious self, unable to forget.  
But like Valet had always thought – when had Sans ever let him down?

 


	4. Hard Work For The Lazy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is chill. The next chapter will lose said chill.

By the time the kid had released Sans, they’d ended up in front of an unfamiliar building. True to Remedy’s description it was only a few blocks away from Grilby’s but Sans hadn’t come down this road before and wouldn't have known it immediately had it not been shown to him. 

Despite wanting to help, the kid had only made him more late with his running, if Valet had just offered directions then Sans could have used a shortcut to get there. But the kid was desperate to get him there and of course he couldn’t have known that Sans would have been able to do better without his help.

However it was almost endearing to see him try and help. Valet had that determined expression plastered on his face as he pulled Sans unceremoniously through the town, occasionally pausing to decide on the fastest possible path to the café. Sans would have snuck off with a clever excuse had he not been so amused by the kid’s expression, it was one of the few he was still able to wear.

Valet now days was more robotic than Mettaton – which in all honesty wasn’t saying much when considering Mettaton’s dramatic tendencies. But even so, it meant that when Sans was able to catch a glimpse of the human he had been once, he was curious to observe it. 

Sans wondered when the kid would give up trying to remember. His pockets were still currently full of the notes from the night before, and Sans quietly stuffed them down deeper into his jacket to eradicate the off chance they might accidentally come free. 

When the abrupt run came to an end, the kid panting heavily from the effort while Sans felt only mildly inconvenienced, the shop doors in front of them were already sporting the open sign and Valet grimaced.

Valet was definitely the fretting type and Sans did his best not to laugh when the boy turned to him, checking that San’s clothes were neat enough and free of dust before his first shift at a new job. Technically it was more like a trial run, one that admittedly didn’t look to be shaping up that well, but Sans didn’t tell Valet that. He was probably enjoying the thought of Sans working at the café more than Sans was.

“When did you find the time to make friendly with the locals, kid?” Sans asked curiously while Valet quickly brushed down his jacket, getting a little too close to Sans for comfort. 

“I owe Nat, she gave me a hand when I was, uh…well I was lost.” That in itself was hardly unusual. Half the reason Papyrus got so bent out of shape when the kid left the house at night was the knowledge that he got distracted and lost so easily.

Sans had found him sitting under a streetlight once, he’d been there for three hours. Another time Valet had managed to get himself picked up by a human police officer that brought him to Grillby’s for his ‘family’ to collect him. Honestly, Frisk was younger than Valet by a few good years just looking at the two humans, and they were much less trouble. 

“Try to get along with them.” Valet mumbled after a beat of silence, his usually flat expression becoming one that almost mirrored concern. “I know that humans can make things difficult for you.” 

Sans tried not to tense up at that comment, occasionally Valet was too observant. Sans wouldn’t say he hated humans, not nearly as much as the humans seemed to detest him anyway, but in all honesty humans could be considered the one great difficulty in his life.

Humans brought with them entrapment underground, knives that left dust in their wake and determination. Even the best of them, even the few humans that Sans knew, had brought some great tragedy with them. Sans wondered if it was human nature to be this way, if curiosity was so deeply ingrained in them that it always lead to cruelty. 

Papyrus seemed to think not, Toriel, Asgore – everyone really. They had some sort of misplaced hope in humanity, saw a good in them that Sans struggled to even catch a glimpse of. He’d seen the best and the worst of humans through Frisk and Chara. Their best was good, but at their worst they were evil. The good simply did not out weigh the bad in many respects. 

Still, his friends hoped and waited patiently for their new neighbors to warm to them.

“It’ll be fine kid. After all what happens when a skeleton like me loses a job? We’d be _bone_ less.” Only after Sans made the pun did he remember exactly which crowd he was playing to.

And sure enough Valet was staring at him with those uncomprehending eyes again. Sans wished the kid would just groan and tell him to keep his puns to himself like he did back in the underground, but now Valet just looked at him with those blank eyes of his. It’d probably take the kid a good half an hour to figure out if that was a joke or not.

Sans would say that his loss of humor was a tragedy, but Valet’s sense of humor had been rubbish to begin with.

“Uh…nevermind Valet. Don’t worry about it.” Giving up on the idea of explaining the pun, Sans instead opted to get this new job over and done with. He’d know soon enough just how long they’d keep him this time around, it was fairly easy to tell with humans. 

Sans didn’t need to look back to know Valet was standing there, probably staring at him anxiously as the door to the café swung open and the short skeleton stepped in. Better not to look back to check anyway, Valet might just try to talk to him a little more and for now Sans could do without that. 

It was still early but the café seemed to be in full swing. At a glance Sans could see at least four tables being occupied by humans. The café itself was large but the spaces were kept small as every inch of the shop’s building was in use. The large windows and plant life helped to fight off any sense of claustrophobia, and Sans made a small note to himself that this particular place looked less professional and more family run. 

The wooden surfaces and gentle colours were a stark contrast to the sterile white halls of the supermarket he’d replaced with this job. The scent of coffee was heavy in the air, blending in with baked goods, it was a sweet, homely sort of smell and again Sans felt warmth pressing around his bones passing through the gaps and filling up what crevices it could. 

Sans figured that it must have felt nicer for creatures with proper flesh, coming in from a chilly Autumn day only to be greeted by warmth and sweet beverages. It seemed to do wonders for Frisk when they were cold.

Besides the human customers, who were seemingly indifferent to Sans stepping through the doors. One or two glanced up from their morning drink or paper when they heard the jingle of the bell atop the door chiming but almost all of them immediately returned to their own business.

That was a bit of a different reaction to usual, most humans at least discreetly tried to get a good look at him and others would flat out stare. It seemed like no one was particularly fussed by him, almost like another human had just stepped in.

Sans was still trying to piece together how that particular reaction made him feel when a human stepped in front of him. It was a large human as well, tall and built more like a Dreemurr than any human Sans had ever seen. At a glance Sans couldn’t decipher the gender – humans didn’t greatly vary in appearance like monsters did and the first human he ever met was Frisk – who’s gender for all intents and purposes, was ‘kid’. 

The second human he’d met was Valet who had been just as hard to distinguish as either gender. Frisk had told them that females generally liked to have longer hair, were smaller and gentler looking than men – so Sans had at first thougth Valet might be a female. He had the soft hair and face for it – he’d been wrong. 

Oh and just how _wrong_ he’d been, Valet was furious with him for two whole days. But really it wasn’t San’s fault, how was he expected to know someone’s gender just by looking? It was an honest mistake. Seemed humans were a lot more touchy about gender than Frisk or monsters were. 

With that in mind Sans decided not to make any immediate judgments on this human. Their scale alone made him think male but he didn’t go with that initial instinct.

“You Sans?” Abrupt and forward, Sans was taken aback by the way the human spoke. It wasn’t exactly hostile but it didn’t fill him with warm fuzzy feelings either. 

“Well you fit the bill.” The human continued with a shrug, eyes narrowed on Sans. “And I don’t see any other skeletons running around – but if you are Sans, you’re also late.”

This was shaping up to be a short-lived job, Sans wasn’t going to fight for it – too much energy. So instead of making an excuse, Sans simply shrugged. “Sorry ‘bout that, can’t say I knew where the place was.” 

To San’s surprise, the human snorted and a smirked knowingly. “Remmy is just as useless as always then – good to know.” The human turned away from Sans and head back towards the counter, leaving the skeleton a little puzzled and lost. “Well?” They demanded, glancing back at Sans impatiently. “You’re not going to get any work standing there, bone-idle.”

After that, what choice did he have but to follow? Frankly the first five minutes he’d been in the café were a few of the most unusual minutes he’d had since coming to the surface. None of the customers paid the two any mind as they head behind the counter, passing baked goods and machines that spat out various liquids, Sans didn’t really think learning how to use human coffee machines was going to be fun or easy.

As they walked, the human continued speaking. Their tone was stern, no nonsense and direct – leaving Sans to wonder if they’d intentionally made that pun or not.

“My name is Nathalie, I own this little here place.” Sans quietly noted that meant that this human was the female Valet and Remedy mentioned – at least that spared him the time figuring out what her gender was.

“There are currently three of us running the joint. I take care of the boring stuff, paper work and the like, as well being a basic server and barista. We got Malikai out the back, he makes all the niceties – you know, cookies, cakes, the food portion of the café. Just leave him to his baking and he’ll leave you to your jobs. Then there’s--”

“Hold up.” Nathalie paused in her speaking, looking at Sans, more curious than annoyed at the interruption. “I got a job here?”

“That’s why you’re standing here ain’t it?” Nathalie replied flatly like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Bottom line is we need the extra hands and you need the cash – that’s usually why people get jobs.” 

Mutely Sans nodded, still a bit thrown by…most all of this. Nathalie continued like there’s been no interruption at all, not needing to dwell on San’s question.

“—lastly there is Shauna. She’s out resident server and cleaner. She won’t be in for another half an hour, I’ll introduce you all in a bit. The uniform is not strict, but you can’t wear that hoodie when you’re serving or out front – we tend to keep clothes here at least a little formal. I guess it must be hard to get clothes that fit you easily around here – but we’ll make do.” While saying all of this Nathalie lead him out into a back room that was filled to bursting point with papers and tools of all kinds.

It was a complete mess. Screwdrivers and their screws left strewn across the table, resting on top of a closed up laptop that was mostly obscured under other papers. There were coffee stains everywhere as well as a few empty cups, this little room seemed like the mangers office and it was the messiest variant of one Sans had ever seen.

His attention shifted to what Nat was doing when she produced a simple white button up shirt and a black vest that looked strikingly like something Grillby might wear, if not for the black apron that came with it. “These will probably fit you, if that big jacket and shirt sit on you alright, this should be fine.” Nat decided, handing the clothes to Sans. “If you need adjustments just come tell me and I’ll organize it.”

The chime of the front door swinging open caught Nathalie’s attention and she straightened up, moving to leave Sans there. “Try those clothes on, come out when you’re ready.” Then just like that she was gone, leaving Sans to stare at the bundle of clothes in his arms.

This was strange. The other human places he’d worked for didn’t run quite like this. There were a lot more questions, probing and invasive at times, interviews and resumes required as well as an attitude check. Additionally there were extra holes to jump through being a monster rather than a human and almost always there was a tone of ‘we have to take you to appear multicultural’.

Sans did not get that feeling from Nathalie or this entire set up. He couldn’t tell if she just didn’t care or if the business was really just that desperate for workers, and Sans refused to believe that he’d been taken in on Remedy’s good word alone. 

With little else to do, Sans did shed himself of his jacket, feeling a little sad to see it go even as he tried on the clothes Nathalie laid out for him. They were a little difficult at first, clothing in the human world could be hard for monsters to handle, they had so many shapes and sizes that humans just hadn’t accounted for. Sans was lucky he was a humanoid monster and most clothes – albeit children’s clothes – would fit him.

The uniform she’d given him managed to fit but the vest was just too loose and wouldn’t stay on his shoulders. Sans discarded it and instead tied the apron around his middle, pleased that at least two of the items he’d been handed were wearable. 

Sans was putting the vest away when the sound of his new employer talking to a customer drifted through the open office door and into the hollows of San’s head.

“Shouldn’t you be in school, Kid?” Nathalie was asking, amusement leaking into her gruff voice. “I mean sure, I can cut you some slack just this once but no more playing hooky – ya hear me?”

“Promise not to tell my parents?”

“Just this once.” Nathalie repeated and Sans could hear the smile in her tone. But most of all he recognized the customer’s voice. Curious Sans left the office and peeked around into the serving area of the café. Sure enough, standing there on his tippy toes was Kid.

The young clumsy monster looking excited as Nathalie balanced a small cup atop his head, advising him not to let it spill as he went to school. Sans was genuinely surprised to see the young monster for a slew of reasons. Monsters in human establishments at all were unusual, but to let a child run freely into a human run café? What were Kid’s parents thinking?

Then there was Nathalie’s response to the monster kid’s presence, she acted like it was any other human child. Perhaps she was one of those polite humans that hid their distaste, although Sans wouldn’t put it past the gruff woman to simply not give a damn about anything – this included.

While Sans was observing the interactions, he barely noticed the presence forming behind him, only realizing it was there a split second before the person spoke.

“Sneaking around, huh?” Sans recognized a hostile tone when he heard one, humans had a knack for it when he was the one they were addressing. However Sans had not been prepared for the blatant aggression in every word the strange spat. Usually people had some tact, enough to pretend they didn’t loath his very existence – this human had no such reservations it would seem.

As calmly and nonchalantly as was monsterly possible, Sans turned a smidge to get a look at the human talking to him. With hands still stuffed in his pockets and one eye lazily slid shut, Sans knew he wouldn’t look all that threatening – more like a lethargic, short, somewhat cuddly skeleton. 

Pretty much aiming for as far from threatening as possible, his lazy grin and careless demeanor usually did the trick and Sans had to admit that when people thought he was no problem and didn’t sweat him – it was so much easier to dunk on them should the need arise. 

The human he ended up seeing was not quite as large or immediately intimidating as his new found boss was but their statue was no less board for a human. Sans quietly took note of the large arms and broad shoulders, currently set into a stance of agitation most likely due to Sans. This time he decided the human was definitely male.

It had nothing to do with his shortly cropped blonde hair or sharp gaze that he fixed the skeleton with – rather it was a feeling that rolled off the male in waves. It felt like a fight for dominance that Sans had no intention of partaking in. Human females could definitely pull it off as well, Sans had no doubt his boss could produce a similar sensation, but this was something so masculine about it’s abrupt, pointless bravado.

And admittedly, the male’s firm build didn’t leave any room for confusion with more womanly figures. Valet had been sure to verse him on the most basic assets of humans, the most obvious clue to gender and while Sans had been a little distracted during the lecture – he’d learnt enough.

The male was staring down at him from his higher up view of the world, with an expression on his face like he was looking at something disgusting. Not a rare expression for humans, but no less disheartening.

“Heya bud.” Sans began unhurriedly, tilting back on the balls of his feet and was amused when the male’s expression twisted further in disgust. “No sneaking going on in this corner – just lil’ ol’ bonsey here.”

Sans had expected some sort of immediate retaliation, perhaps physical violence even but instead the brute of a human looked him over once or twice more and seemed to find something he recognized. Still disgruntle and wearing that look that suggested he stepped in something dead and rotting, the male’s arms gradually unwound and fell limp at his sides. The change in aggressive stance helped Sans to decide that at least the male didn’t intend to attack him.

“New guy, hmpf?” With his hands no longer obscuring his frankly ridiculously firm looking chest, Sans could see the flour stains splattered over a worn apron. Looking at the male a little more closely Sans noticed he looked rather disheveled, flour had even made its way into his spiky hair.

Then as if he’d come to a reluctant decision within himself, the male let out a frustrated sigh and gestured towards Sans with a carless flick of his wrist. “Keep your hands clean, ya hear me skeleton? If I hear you causing trouble you and I are going to have a problem. Don’t think you’ll get any special treatment here monster.”

Sans felt a retort in the form of a pun forming on the tip of his metaphorical tongue when a fleshy appendage suddenly dropped around his shoulder and a following arm looped around the human male’s shoulders. The height difference made the maneuver particularly ridiculous but it seemed Nathalie just didn’t care in the slightest.

“Now, now – what am I hearing over here Kai? Being welcoming are we?” Nathalie’s smile was positively venomous and the arms around their shoulders began to curl tighter. Sans figured that for a human the fear of having their air cut off would be very real at this point. The human male certainly seemed to think so. 

“Get off me Nat!” In a foolish display of pride, the male knocked the older woman’s arm off his shoulders and put a good distance between the two of them. “I wasn’t doing anything, tch. Whatever – just keep outta my way shorty.”

With that particularly rude parting note the male vanished out back and Nathalie’s arm loosened around San’s shoulders. The woman giving a small amused huff as she watched the young man stalk off.

“Got a temper like a bull our baker does – don’t mind Malakai. He’s a pill at the best of times, you two just keep separated and we’ll all have a swell time.”

Sans stared at the door the human – Malakai – had vanished behind for a few more seconds. There weren’t any immediate thoughts on him in San’s skull, just a lingering puzzled feeling.

“Come on new guy.” Nathalie gestured for him to follow her out the front. “Lets put you to work and see how you scrub up.”

There was a glint in the woman’s eye that Sans felt he’d seen before. A sort of impish sparkle that would occasionally appear in Undyne’s gaze and the more Sans dwelled on that familiar expression, the more he began to think that he was going to have a rough time on his first day.

 

…  
…

 

Five hours later and Sans had been proven right five times over. Each hours brought with it a new problem that needed a prompt solution. 

He’d spent more time on his feet than what could possibly be healthy – Sans liked to sit and lounge while keeping an eye on things and right now, in this little café there was no time for that. Very quickly Sans learnt that his new boss liked to run things with an iron fist. Things had to be kept clean, ready and all orders taken and made quickly.

Nathalie had insisted he learn the menu within the first few hours, acquaint himself with the till and locate all the different supplies. While Sans floundered at first, having trouble working every button on the till with his skeletal fingers, Nathalie stayed close at hand. 

She was constantly moving, one moment she was cleaning the next second a fresh cup of coffee was being made and then almost as fast as Sans could pass through a short cut – she was out front talking to customers. Despite this she was always there when Sans needed assistance and save for a few blunders they’d managed to keep the store running smoothly without incident.

When Shauna, the other female staff member that Nathalie had mentioned, finally came in – Sans had stopped what he was doing for a moment to stare. It wasn’t often that he was so thoroughly taken off guard as to not have a pun or joke at the ready.

“Shauna! Dearheart, why are you so late?” Nathalie had breezed past the still shocked Sans, over to the other workers side. Her tone gentle and concerned as she bent a little bit so that she was eye to eye with the other female. “You’re alright aren’t you?” 

Now San’s surprise, while abrupt and momentarily crippling, was quickly contained and he turned back to his work cleaning out some mugs. But he kept an eye on the interaction between the two females – he couldn’t quite look away yet because one of them was a monster. 

Shauna was not the human girl Sans had been expecting, instead she was very much a monster like himself. From a glance it was obvious, the young monster was something like a creature made out of slime. Her body was fluid and occasionally she would drip some of the goo like substance onto the floor – however all of it returned to her body quickly. She couldn't be leaving herself all over the place after all. 

“I…um…” Shauna hesitated, fidgeting as she began to drop more pellets of what Sans guessed was a nervous reaction. Like sweating. “A man wanted to talk, I-I didn’t know what to say. I'm sorry.”

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. It's none of their business.” Nathalie smiled and gently rest her hand atop the girl’s head, not bothered by the sticky consistency of Shanua’s hair. “If you need to take a rest you can – the new guys got a handle on things. Don’tcha Sans?”

When he was called to Sans lazily glanced up from his cleaning, pretending he hadn’t been listening at all and was actually zoned out. In response to Nathalie’s question Sans tossed the two a thumbs up and went back to his cleaning, still keeping a metaphorical ear out. 

He couldn’t help but be interested. This café had four workers including himself and two of them were monsters. It wasn’t every day Sans came across a human work place where fifty percent of the force was made up of monsters. Now that he was thinking about it, Sans noticed there were a few monsters coming in and out of the café – more than he had expected. 

“T-Thanks Nat.” Shauna’s smile was sweet and just a tad anxious but instead of heading out back to relax, she insisted on getting to work. Nathalie didn’t stop her but Sans noticed the woman keeping a close eye on Shauna, one of concern rather than distrust.

“So I gotta know.” Sans began slowly as he set away another mug. Nathalie simply hummed in acknowledgement, prompting Sans to go on. “What sorta café is this?”

“The sort that serves coffee.” Nathalie answered flatly and Sans really struggled to tell if she was joking.

“You tickling my funny bone there boss?” A small snort from Nathalie was all the reassurance Sans needed. At least she wasn’t completely humorless. Sans just had no idea when _she_ was joking. 

“You’re wondering about our stance on monsters and humans?” Nat stopped what she was doing, cleaning and fiddling with the coffee machine to turn and face Sans. With no one in immediate ear shot of the conversation she seemed content to lean back against the counter and take a moment to consider her proper answer. It was getting later in the evening and Sans figured coffee was more a early morning to lunch time gig.

It was no secret that most places had a sort of policy. Some shops were just for monsters and others just for humans. Same applied to schools and other government buildings. The rules weren’t really enforced much but most people knew where they were and weren’t welcome. Sans didn’t know exactly where this place stood on that line. 

“When the underground opened up,” Nathalie began slowly. “And you lot all came pouring out – a lot of folks around here freaked. We’re only a small town after all, most people hadn’t even met a foreigner before – let alone a monster. I already had this place up and running and the first time I saw a monster step through my doors – I was thrilled.”

Pausing, Nathalie snorted at the memory, finding something funny about it. “Hardly knew what half the stuff on the menu was, they were so nervous and out of their depth I couldn’t help but sit down with them for a while and help out. You guys didn’t have that much variation in the way of coffee and tea from what I hear. So I spent a few hours going over it with them, showing the poor guy different types and tastes – really loved the tea that one.”

“But of course people started to ask about it, what sort of café this was going to be – for monsters or for humans. My answer has always and will always be the same. This is a café for people. I don’t really care what you are when you walk through my doors – you pay with money and show basic decency and you’re welcome. Not hard to grasp is it?” 

Nathalie paused, sizing Sans up with a glance before grinning with a small shrug. “Money is money right? Speaking of, better get back to it newbie – still got a few hours left before we can even think about locking up.”

Sans never made comment on Nat’s story. Not because he had nothing to say, but because he wasn’t sure he should say anything. She’d said it was mostly in the name of money, which in itself was amusing, but when Sans looked at his new boss when she wasn’t paying attention to him – Sans liked to think maybe she had the heart of a monster in there.

The hours began to pass more easily, Sans learnt quickly and the customers began to thin out – leaving them to simple clean up and stock take. Sans was even allowed to have a nap on his break, which lasted a bit longer than he thought it was meant to. Shauna had woken him up after forty minutes of sleep, saying that the extra ten was on her because she couldn’t bear to wake him up when he looked so tired. 

“Shauna is right.” Nathalie chimed in when Sans came out of the break room, still rubbing his eye sockets. Which was odd because he had no eyes to rub, but the motion felt right so he did it all the same. “Newbie, you look beat. No one is in here right now – take a load off.”

He was a fool to think she meant another nap because as Nathalie gestured to one of the customer booths, he noticed a pile up of things to be dried. Nathalie noticed his stare and grinned. “Never said you could stop working and slack off – just don’t want you on those feet anymore. If you collapse on your first day, that’s on me.” 

Thinking it was the best he was going to get, Sans eased himself into his seat and began to idly dry the cutlery laid out in front of him.

“Why is it you look so beat Mr. Bones?” Nathalie asked from the counter where she was doing some sort of paper work. Sans could see plenty of money symbols and numbers, and promptly decided the less he knew about the financial side of the café the better. “Didn’t think it was possible for a skeleton to get bags under his eyes.” 

“This is my normal face.” Sans defended with a shrug. Nathalie just snorted and went back to her numbers but Shauna kept tossing him worried looks. The slim monster being incredibly quiet for someone that kept dripping and even more expressive for a person with no muscles. She was practically see through in some places.

“M-Maybe you should head home for tonight Sans? You worked really hard on your first day.” Shauna suggested, getting Nathalie to glance up at the two. Her gaze really seeming to bite into Sans as she studied him, trying to find some sort of indication that he really was exhausted. Sans had reassurance and refusal on the tip of his non-existent tongue when Nathalie seemed to decide it wasn’t such a bad idea. 

“Just make sure you’re not late tomorrow, eh Bonehead?” Nat suggested, leaning back a bit as she stretched away from the paperwork she had out.

“So I’m hired then?” Sans asked again, still not so sure how that had happened. 

In reply Nathalie only smirked. “Thought I already told you that’s why you’re here, dummy. Bright, early and on time tomorrow – got it?”

Well who was Sans to argue with that type of logic?


End file.
